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After 13-year struggle, church gets ready for its first Mass By ERiN CaRELsE

ORK is finally underway to prepare a Durban church building for its inaugural Mass after 13 years of struggle and lawsuits. The Catholic community of Ezimangweni, Durban archdiocese, heaved a sigh of relief in May when the Durban High Court granted an interdict against the unlawful occupiers of the Church property dedicated to Our Lady. The story goes back to 1998 when Fr Albert Sithole of Matikwe led the drive to buy a site for a new church to serve the poor who could not afford transport to the parish church. Fr Sithole and his team eventually identified a site with a vacant shop that was central, near Dube Village Mall. A deal to purchase the property was agreed with the rightful owners, and all documentation was signed to confirm the Catholic Archdiocese of Durban as bearer of the site. On arriving at the property to bless it in late 2003, before it could be used as a church, Fr Sithole was met by a group of people, led by Clement Ngcobo, who claimed he represented the Inanda Development Trust and prevented the Catholic community to take possession of the premises. Mr Ngcobo claimed that the property was purchased illegally, and that it was left under the administration of the Inanda Development Trust. The legal process on the matter began in 2011, but was intermittently suspended. In February 2015, Fr Francis Cibane succeeded Fr Sithole as parish priest and took over the matter. Around September 2015, the attorneys were contacted to speed up the process. Following an exchange of affidavits, it was confirmed that Mr Ngcobo was never a member of the Inanda Development Trust. Early this year the Church’s lawyers received a withdrawal notice served by the responding attorneys, and on April 25 an interdict was granted in the Church’s favour,

clearing the way for it to take occupation. Throughout the investigation, special prayer drives were launched, asking for the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, with assisted intentions from Portugal by José Camara, the donor of more than a thousand statues of Our Lady of Fatima to parishes worldwide. Fr Cibane noted that the case came to a close around the 100th anniversary of the first apparition at Fatima. “We had been asking Our Lady of the Rosary to intercede for us, so it is only fitting that I approached Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, as archbishop of Durban, to name this church Our Lady of the Rosary,” he said. The priest has finally moved into the premises and is busy converting it for Catholic liturgy. Cardinal Napier told The Southern Cross that the Catholic Church can learn a number of lessons from this case. “When the Church buys a property, it must take possession of it at once, and be seen to be doing so by fencing it in and beginning to use it as soon as possible, even if on a nominal scale only,” the cardinal said “Parish communities as a whole must stand up to bullies in the community. Otherwise, these people are emboldened to act as if they control everyone in every aspect of community life, including religious. “The Church must not be slow to use the law to assert or claim its rights especially when these rights benefit the poor and needy,” he said. “This site was bought to bring Church services closer to the poor who could not afford transport to the parish every Sunday. In this regard it is good to remember that the poor and needy, more than anyone else, know they need God, and so feel the need to encounter him in church regularly,” Cardinal Napier said. “And what’s more, they want their children to grow up close to God and his Church.”

Four young Catholics who are volunteering their time and skills to work on the mini World youth Day in Durban in December. (From left) safron Dougall of st Francis Xavier parish in the Bluff, melita vurden of Holy Trinity parish in musgrave Road, Tevin Jasson of Holy Family parish in Newlands East, Thandeka msweli of KwaKrisho Umsindisi parish in Kwamashu. see page 3 for more. (Photo: Conference Company)

Messi was not ‘denied’ a Catholic wedding By DaviD Ramos

ONTRARY to media reports, the Church did not deny a sacramental Catholic wedding to Argentinian football star Lionel Messi and his girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo. Rather, the local archbishop forbade a Catholic wedding for the couple be celebrated in a casino chapel, as per Church norms. Some reports about the couple’s wedding had claimed: “Archbishop forbids Messi and Antonella to marry in the Church”. Fr Rubén Bellante, spokesman for the Argentinian archdiocese of Rosario, said that “neither the family of Messi nor the bride asked for a place in any parish in the city of Rosario, nor in the cathedral.” He emphasised: “At no time did Archbishop Eduardo Eliseo Martín deny the possibility of the sacrament of marriage,” he said. Messi, star of Barcelona FC and one of the best players in the world, had a civil marriage ceremony at the City Centre Casino Complex, south of Rosario, with 260 guests, including football stars and celebrities.

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Messi met Antonella when he was just five years old, but officially their relationship started in 2008. The couple has two children: Thiago, 4, and Mateo, 1. Archbishop Martín intervened in the Messi wedding only when he was made aware that the couple was planning to construct a chapel in a casino and to have a priest facilitate the ceremony, Fr Bellante said. The archbishop banned the priest from facilitating a marriage at the casino. This is in keeping with Church tradition. Fr Bellante added that Archbishop Martín suggested that a sacramental marriage for Messi may have been possible in a private house, if such a thing had been requested and were necessary for reasons such as security. However, Messi himself never made requests to any parish in the archdiocese for a sacramental marriage, the priest said. Fr Bellante added that Archbishop Martín “would be happy” to provide Messi with the sacrament of marriage if it were requested and held in an approved place. “The doors remain open.”—CNA

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The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

LOCAL

Judge: Our Constitution is about God and love By HaRRy vaN DER BURGT

FORMER Constitutional Court judge recalled her Catholic schooling in a lecture held at St Augustine College, South Africa’s Catholic university, in Johannesburg. Justice Yvonne Mokgoro delivered the 5th annual Chiara Lubich Memorial Lecture, organised by the Focolare Movement. She touched on topics covering the human dignity of each person, how this is enshrined within the Constitution, the responsibilities of government, and also those of individuals, in achieving social cohesion. Ms Mokgoro recalled growing up in the township of Galeshewe in Kimberley. She matriculated at St Boniface School, run by the Dominican Sisters. She spoke of her gratitude towards the people who enabled her to continue to study law well before the end of apartheid. Her lecture gave witness to her love for South Africa and all the people who live in it, along with her desire that all groups and cultures might know each other better in a spirit of mutual respect; not only from different ethnic groups, but also from different faiths and beliefs, so as to be reconciled as South Africans. “My final appeal to humanity is that each one of us, whoever we are, wherever we are, in our families, communities, societies and countries that we serve, advocate,

Justice yvonne mokgoro delivered the Chiara Lubich memorial Lecture at st augustine College in Johannesburg. promote, respect, protect and fulfill the idea of humaneness in the way we treat and regard others. She emphasised that we can connect with one another through the fact that we are human beings, and it matters not from where we come. “We can connect at the core of our humanity—that is the inherent human dignity that we possess,” she said. Ms Mokgoro, who now chairs the South African Law Reform Commission, entitled her lecture “Rights, Responsibilities and Relationships: Non-Negotiables for Social Cohesion in South Africa”. She explained the values under-

lying the Constitution which took into account the past and the aspirations of all the people of South Africa, and outlined how these values are upheld by the Constitutional Court. “‘We need to see only the godliness in each person,” she said, “because where there is love, there is God; where there is God, there is love—and trust me, this is what our Constitution is all about.” Reconciliation, she said, can only happen if we connect at the human level and see the wellbeing of the other as our concern. That, she said, is what ubuntu means, and it is a duty all of us have towards each human being. She quoted from Nelson Mandela, speaking in 1995: “Change can be painful, but we must change if we want to transform and reconstruct our society towards a better life for all of us. Because reconstruction goes hand in hand with reconciliation, if we dedicate ourselves to achieve social justice for reconciliation, we must believe in the reconstruction and transformation of our society. The result can only be but a strong cohesion among ourselves.” Ms Mokgoro said we bring about this transformation not only for ourselves, but for our children and the generations to come: “This must be our legacy.” Her lecture was followed by interaction with the audience, touching on topics such as morality in politics, and the value of religion. Comboni missionaries Brother Peter Niederbrunner, 69, celebrated the 50th anniversary of his religious profession, and renewed his vows, in the pastoral centre of maria Trost, Lydenburg, where he works. The celebration was presided over by Bishop Joe sandri of Witbank, a confrere of Br Niederbrunner. Fr Jude Burgers, the superior of the Comboni missionaries in south africa, and a good number of confreres and friends of Br Niederbrunner were present.

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CATHOLIC priest hopes that his experience of breaking the Ramadan fast with local Muslims last month will be picked up by other priests and Catholics. Fr Christopher Boyer, a Missionaries of Africa priest and contact person for Islam-Christian relations at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said he and family ministry activist Toni Rowland met Ayhan Cetin, CEO of the Turquoise Harmony Institute, earlier this year. The institute was inviting people motivated for interreligious dialogue to share a breaking of the fast in a Muslim family. “I then invited two fellow Missionaries of Africa priests in Edenglen, Johannesburg, who accepted without hesitation, Frs Michel Meunier and George Okwii,” Fr Boyer said. A host family was identified through the institute, and the priests arrived at the flat of Sermin and Turker Isler, not far from Nizamiye mosque in Midrand.

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Priest: Let’s now break Ramadan fast every year “We were immediately made to feel welcome,” Fr Boyer said. “On arrival, I gave our hosts the Vatican’s message for the feast of the sacrifice at the end of Ramadan and a small box of mint green tea, and then sat with my three male hosts,” he said. “The food was tasty and rich, and we closed the meal with black tea. The conversation was lively and about our respective lives, work, politics, and soccer.” Each one went for a prayer at the end of the meal and, after thanking Mrs Isler, they moved to the mosque. At night on special occasions, the Nizamiye Masjid is lit up in luminescent green and purple, “a beautiful sight to behold”, Fr Boyer said. “We were happily surprised to meet Uncle Ali, the builder of the mosque and the boss of the pastry parlour who sat at the table with us. We were served another round of very refined Turkish delights, and parted ways with a precious new memory in our hearts,” Fr Boyer said. He now hopes more Catholics will enter into dialogue with Muslims.

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Frs michel meunier m.afr. (left) and George okwii m.afr. (right), and pastrymaker Uncle ali, enjoy Turkish desserts after breaking the Ramadan fast with the isler family in midrand, Johanesburg.

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APERMONEY, a non-profit project by the Denis Hurley Centre (DHC), is set up to improve lives in Durban by enabling people begging at the traffic lights to become newspaper vendors—offering a hand-up, rather than a handout. The project was conceived by the DHC in conjunction with Urban Lime SA, a privately owned commercial property company that specialises in urban regeneration. They have partnered with the Independent Newspaper Group and the City of Durban, Ethekwini municipality. “Most visitors to the city remark on how many homeless people there are begging at robots, with the usual cry being, ‘Something must be done’,” said DHC director Raymond Perrier. “The police are often expected to move people on—but they know this is pointless,” he said. In some cities, begging has been addressed by creating and selling a special magazine, such as The Big Issue. “But this is very expensive and most people will only buy one copy a month,” Mr Perrier noted. PaperMoney leverages the fact

that Durban has two daily Englishlanguage newspapers which are no longer widely sold on the streets. So, area by area, they are giving beggars the chance to become vendors of The Mercury on weekday mornings and The Daily News in the afternoons. The motorist is asked to hand over R10—paper money—for their newspaper. The vendor keeps R5 and the remaining R5 covers the cost of the paper and running the programme. The results so far have been encouraging, with several vendors using their income to stay in shelters each night. “Our aim is not just to provide access to work for people on the streets,” Mr Perrier explained. “PaperMoney’s key goal is to humanise people who, for whatever reason, are forced to make a living by relying on the kindness of strangers. “More important than their newspapers, or their neon green reflective vests, is their name badge. In naming someone, we assert their humanity and show them to be someone’s son or someone’s daughter,” he said. n To find out more visit www.paper money.org.za

The southern Cross, June 12 to June 18, 2017

LOCAL

Young volunteers for Durban Youth Day By iLLa THomPsoN

OUR young professionals are volunteering their time to prepare for the second Durban Mini World Youth Day from December 6-10. Safron Dougall, 22, Tevin Jasson, 24, Thandeka Msweli, 25, and Melita Vurden, 28, (pictured on Page 1) put up their hands to help mobilise young people. The four will get valuable handson work experience by being mentored by the Conference Company, a professional team appointed to work closely with the organising committee. The intention of the five-day Mini World Youth Day at the Dur-

ban Exhibition Centre is to bring together young Catholics aged 18 to 35 from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland to celebrate their Christianity, community and unity while experiencing the chosen theme of “Young People, Faith and Vocations”. Young people representing different cultures, languages and geographical locations will come together to deepen their faith and be encouraged to become more active, thoughtful, engaged and caring global citizens, organisers said. Over the five days, there will be community engagement, prayerful activities, discussion groups and pilgrimages. The four volunteers are concen-

trating on marketing the event to individuals, parishes and youth groups by making direct contact with as many young people as possible. “We are delighted to be able to have such enthusiastic and proactive young people giving of their time and talents to be part of this auspicious occasion,” said Nina Freysen-Pretorius, chief executive officer of the Conference Company. “It is really affirming to have young professionals participating in this way and we trust that the experience will be really useful for them too,” she said. Ms Dougall said: “I recently graduated from the International

Hotel School. Initially I was not sure what the MWYD position entailed but was immediately interested as it means working with parishes to encourage young people to attend this life-changing programme.” Mr Jasson, who is finalising his IT studies at the end of the year, sees the MWYD “as an important milestone in the Christian walk”. Ms Msweli said she was happy to assist as she loves working with youth development programmes. “When I heard about the opportunity to volunteer in helping with the MWYD, I wanted to join. There is nothing more exciting than to be part of something so beautiful and of such importance to us as young

people of the Catholic Church. “It gives me great joy to know that I will be part of the success of such an event. I do hope that all I learn during this time I will be able to take back to my parish and empower other young people.” Ms Vurden said she is “excited to contribute” towards the MWYD. “As a freelance writer I enjoy jotting down fleeting moments and capturing our diversity in photography. Being a part of the MWYD allows me to streamline my skills constructively as we all gear up for an enriching encounter,” she said. n Bookings are now open for the Mini World Youth Day. See the conference website, www.miniworldyouthday. co.za, or e-mail louise@confco.co.za

CPLO welcomes court Golden jubilee joy for PE priest decision on migrants By FRaNK NUNaN

HE Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) has welcomed a landmark Constitutional Court judgment which instructs parliament to amend defects in the Immigration Act. The case was brought before the court by Lawyers for Human Rights against the home affairs ministry. The court found that Section 34(1) (b) and (d) of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 were inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore invalid. It ruled that the constitutional rights to legally challenge a detention in court within 48 hours of arrest; and to be protected against arbitrary detention without trial, apply equally to foreign nationals as to South African citizens. CPLO director Fr Peter-John Pearson said that it’s worth noting that Catholic social teaching supports the notion of illegal foreigners, migrants, and refugees being the bearers of basic human rights. Catholic teaching holds that protection requires, at mini-

mum, that migrants have a right to claim refugee status without incarceration, and to have their claims fully considered by a competent authority in a transparent process and within a reasonable time frame. “This judgment constitutes a protection of both the values of the Constitution and the human dignity of a vulnerable group in society, whom our laws are meant to protect and not render more vulnerable,” Fr Pearson said. The court also ordered that all “illegal” foreign nationals in detention under the Immigration Act be brought before a court within 48 hours. Prior to this, the courts were only required to review the detention of foreign nationals who were in detention for longer than 30 days. “This ruling will protect vulnerable individuals whose detention has in the past fallen beyond the reach of judicial oversight, resulting in widespread rights violations,” Lawyers for Human Rights said.

HE parishioners of the Kouga Catholic community of Jeffreys Bay, St Francis Bay and Humansdorp celebrated the 50th anniversary of their priest, Fr Paul Fahy, at St Francis of Assisi in Humansdorp. The parish has another church, St Clare of Assisi, in Jeffreys Bay. Guests included Bishop Vincent Zungu of Port Elizabeth, 30-plus priests deacons and religious, and Fr Fahy’s brother, visiting from Australia for the occasion. At the jubilee Mass, the choir was led by Fr Fahy’s longtime friend Veronica Wittstock, assisted by choirmaster Dennis Mauer. Cecile Heather gave a solo rendition of “Panis Angelicus” during Communion. The homily was presented by Fr Dick O’Riordan, who arrived in South Africa with Fr Fahy on the Pendennis Castle nearly 50 years ago, and who recently celebrated his own golden jubilee in Cape Town. The homily covered Fr Fahy’s career in the diocese of Port Elizabeth and highlighted his many achievements. In his message, Bishop Zungu also paid tribute to Fr Fahy’s ministry to the Church and the diocese. Everyone attending the Mass was afterwards given a special cupcake at

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Fr Paul Fahy of the Kouga community, centre, celebrated his 50th jubilee at the church of st Francis of assisi in Humansdorp. the tea, iced with either a cross or the numeral 50 on it. These were made by Linette McLoughlin and her team. After the tea, those who had booked for the lunch made their way to The Links in St Francis Bay. Organising committee chair Diana Alberts gave the welcoming address, to which Fr Fahy replied, and talks were given by Fr John Clarke and Fr

Billy Barnes. The parish especially thanked Diana Alberts, parish chair Cecile Heather, choirmaster Dennis Mauer, and the many others who worked so well as a team. Special thanks also went to Veronica Wittstock, who travelled up from Knysna on at least two occasions to hold practices for the choir.

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The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

INTERNATIONAL

Priest suicides prompt call for helpline in Ireland

ESIDES a shortage of vocations, Irish priests are facing an even more harrowing cri-

sis. At least eight priests in Ireland have committed suicide in the past ten years, according to reports given at meetings of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), and many priests are sounding the alarm about a severe dip in morale and a mental health crisis among the country’s clergy. The drop in priestly morale has clergy calling for a confidential helpline to be set up for priests needing support. At a recent ACP meeting, an attendee reiterated the request: “Our morale is affected because we are on a sinking ship. When will the ‘counter-reformation’ take place? We’re like an All-Ireland team without a goalie. We need a national

confidential priests’ helpline. We’re slow to look for help.” The concerns regarding a severe dip in the morale and wellbeing of priests in the country have been raised by the 1 000-member clerical group in at least three different meetings in the past few months. Fr Roy Donovan, a spokesman for the ACP, told IrishCentral in May that besides the priests who are speaking up, he believes many more elderly churchmen are suffering in silence, and don’t know where to go for help. The factors for the crisis in morale and mental health are several-fold, priests have said. Like much of the Western world, Ireland, once a thriving Catholic country, is facing a serious vocations crisis. In 2004, Ireland had more than 3 100 priests. By 2014, the last year for which data is avail-

able, the number had declined by more than 500, with 2 627 priests in the country, though the number of active priests is likely closer to just 1 900. This shortage leads to a phenomenon called “clustering”, where several parishes are combined into one for lack of leadership. This increases priests’ workload and subsequent stress, forcing many priests to work well beyond retirement years because of the lack of new vocations. “These men lived through a time when there were plenty of vocations and their churches were full at Mass, so there’s a loss of esteem. Also, in the past they would have had live-in housekeepers. Now most don’t and are on their own and so feeling a lot more isolated and lonely, as well as feeling nervous and more vulnerable,” Fr Bren-

dan Hoban, one of the founders of ACP, said at a meeting in November 2016. Also, starting in the 1990s, the Catholic Church in Ireland was rocked by a sex abuse scandal that resulted in a massive decline in both vocations and in the faith of the laypeople. Priests reported being disheartened by the declining faith in the people they serve, “who have so little contact with the Church from First Communions to funerals”, according to minutes from the meetings. Priests’ confidence “has been eroded when we see so many people going through the motions of faith”, they said. Recently, the Church in Ireland has also been rocked by negative press regarding the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam,

and the Sisters there “did a disservice by not clarifying exactly what happened. They need to do so immediately. It makes our job impossible, especially as we face a storm on [the proposed legalisation of] abortion next year,” the priests noted at a meeting. Their requests included the hiring of a media person who could speak clearly for clergy and bishops in times of crisis. The priests also acknowledged that they need to be better about asking for help when they need it. “We need to unmask and say ‘I need help!’ There is a great sense of ‘being alone,’ making our own way in the diocese. There is a lack of dialogue among priests in the diocese. Yet, people are fantastic and generous in parishes, if given half a chance.”—CNA

Catholic blogger gets SA-born bishop: I can relate to migrants 10 years in show trial By ED LaNGLois

VIETNAMESE court sentenced a Catholic blogger to 10 years in prison for propaganda against the Communist government. Rights activists described the sentence as “heavy”. Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, also known as “Mother Mushroom”, was tried at the People’s Court of Khanh Hoa province in Nha Trang City, ucanews.com reported. UN human rights experts said in Geneva that the trial did not meet international standards and appeared to be aimed at intimidating activists. “This was little short of a show trial, designed to intimidate other environmental activists,” the experts said. “The trial did not meet international standards. She has been denied her fundamental right to due process.” They said they feared that the government is increasingly targeting bloggers and organisers of peaceful protests to prevent civil and environmental activism. Several lawyers supported Ms

Quynh via social media, saying the sentence is too “heavy and inhumane”. “I am really surprised by the 10year sentence which shows the government’s inhumanity to a single young mother,” Catholic lawyer Le Cong Dinh said. “I did not realise what a state of panic the ruling party is in.” Ms Quynh, a co-founder of a network of bloggers, was found guilty of “conducting propaganda against the communist government” under Article 88 of the Criminal Law. The government indictment accused Ms Quynh of Facebook posts from 2012 to 2016 “criticising and deforming the Communist Party’s policies and history, and dividing national solidarity”. She posted a document titled “Stop police killing civilians” about 31 cases of people who had died while in police detention. Ms Quynh also was accused of conducting campaigns for freedom, democracy and human rights in 2015, denying the party’s leadership and giving interviews to foreign news agencies where she spoke badly about the government.— CNS

SOUTH African-born US bishop says he feels compassion for immigrants to the United States. Speaking to the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s policy of stopping immigrants and visitors from seven majority-Muslim countries, Bishop Peter Smith recalled his laborious 13-year process to become a naturalised US citizen. Bishop Smith, the auxiliary bishop of Portland in Oregon, was born in Pietermaritzburg. After earning a law degree from the University of Natal he emigrated to the US in 1986. He was ordained in Portland in 2001. He thinks Americans should remember its vaunted entrepreneurial spirit comes from immigrants. “We have this picture presented that they are freeloaders,” Bishop Smith says. “People don’t appreciate how much courage it takes to be an immigrant.” He feels compassion for immigrants who must manage larger racial, cultural and language differences than he had to. “Coming to another nation is not as simple as people think,” Bishop Smith says, comparing a culture change to having threads ripped out of a tapestry and replaced.

Bishop Peter smith of Portland, oregon, who was born in Pietermaritzburg. (Photo: Jon Bellis, Catholic sentinel) He admires today’s immigrants, he says, because many are escaping danger or uprooting themselves and making sacrifices to help their children and future generations. Bishop Smith first came to the US in 1983 on a temporary visa to visit the People of Praise, the charismatic Christian community to which he belongs. He quickly decided that he wanted to spend his life as part of the group, which

is based in South Bend, Indiana. That began his long trek for permanent residency, or a green card. Once he took a trip home to see family in South Africa. As a trained lawyer, he knew to have all his papers in order. But when he tried to get back into the United States, he and an Iranian man were pulled into interrogation rooms and forcefully questioned. He stood his ground, showing all he had done to comply. A supervisor decided to let him enter, but charged $15 for a visa extension, even though the future bishop was not at fault. Later, during the permanent residency application process, he was forbidden from leaving the United States. During those five years, three of his siblings were married. They mailed him pieces of wedding cake. His grandmother died. “I had to play by the rules,” Bishop Smith recalled. “It was at times fairly challenging.” He was about to give up, but his spiritual director helped him see that the setbacks were small compared to the larger movement God had brought into his life. In 1990, he was approved for a green card, and became a citizen in 1999. In 2014 was named an auxiliary bishop for Portland.—CNS

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a sign supporting same-sex marriage is seen in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate after German lawmakers voted to legalise same-sex marriage the same day. The country’s Catholic Church has condemned the vote. (Photo: Felipe Trueba, EPa/CNs)

ERMANY’S bishops’ conference has expressed regret over a parliamentary vote to allow same-sex weddings, vowing to defend the “Catholic understanding of marriage”. The vote by lawmakers “abandons the differentiated perception of various forms of partnership in order to stress the value of same-sex partnerships”, said Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin, chairman of the bishops’ Commission for Marriage and Family. “But differentiation isn’t discrimination, and same-sex cohabitation can be valued through other institutional arrangements without opening up the legal institution of marriage,” he said. Germany’s parliament, or Bundestag, voted 393 to 226 with four abstentions to allow same-sex couples to marry. Archbishop Koch said Article 6 of Germany’s 1949 constitution stressed the heterosexual “classic marriage concept”, adding that the Catholic Church would “face an increasing challenge” over the “vitality of Catholic marriage”, but not change its “sacramental understanding” of marriage as a male-female union. “As a Church, we respect same-sex partnerships in which mutual responsibility and care are taken,” he said. “But it is worth noting how many who long fought the institution of marriage have now become fervent advocates of ‘marriage for all’, and how prudent convictions about marriage have been abandoned citing changing times and popular

moods,” he said. The vote was hurriedly arranged by Social Democrat Bundestag members for the last day of the legislative season. The action followed a magazine interview pledge by Chancellor Angela Merkel, a practising Protestant who previously opposed samesex marriage, to allow a free vote for her governing Christian Democratic Union. However, while 70 Christian Democrats backed the measure, German media said prominent party members had vigorously opposed it, citing Christian convictions. In a letter to parliament, Mgr Karl Justen, director of the Church’s Catholic Office in Berlin, said constitutional protection for heterosexual marriage was confirmed by Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court when it approved

same-sex registered partnerships in 2002. He said the Catholic Church recognised a “great diversity of family situations”, but he insisted same-sex partnerships “cannot be equated with marriage”. Meanwhile, Thomas Sternberg, chairman of the lay Central Committee of German Catholics, which has previously backed liberal Church reforms, told Passauer Neue Presse he also believed lawmakers had made a “serious mistake” by backing legislation that would require constitutional changes. Same-sex marriage is legal in most of Europe and was backed by 83% of Germans in a 2017 survey by the government’s anti-discrimination agency. The measure was approved by the Bundesrat upper house for signing into law by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

Cardinal Müller: No conflict between me and the pope I

N an interviewfollowing his removal as prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said the decision was normal, and was not the result of conflict between him and Pope Francis. “There were no differences between me and Pope Francis,” Cardinal Müller told Allgemeine Zeitung, a regional German paper from Mainz. The cardinal, 69, said that while he doesn’t know the specifics of why his 5-year term was not extended, the pope informed him of his desire to move away from the trend of renewing curial mandates. Although it has until now been common for these 5-year terms to be renewed, Cardinal Müller said that during their meeting, Pope Francis said he wants to progressively move towards a general practice of limiting mandates to just five years, “and I happened to be the first one to which this applied”. “It doesn’t matter much to me,” Cardinal Müller said, adding that “at some point, everyone has to stop”. The Vatican announced that

archbishop Luis Landaria sJ (left), new head of the vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and his predecessor, Cardinal Gerhard müller. (Photos: Paul Haring/CNs) Spanish Jesuit Archbishop Luis Ladaria is taking Cardinal Müller’s place. Archbishop Landria, 73, a Jesuit theologian who had been appointed secretary of the congregation in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI, is known to be simple, orthodox in his theology, highly intellectual, and is described by those who know him as not being a “yes man”. In his interview, Cardinal Müller simply stated that his 5-year mandate as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)

“had now run its course”, and the decision to replace him had nothing to do with conflict that’s been painted between he and the Pope. Nor was it the result of differing opinions on Pope Francis’ 2016 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, he said. While the two didn’t agree on all aspects of the text, the cardinal insisted there was no fight about it. Despite their agreements on some points, Cardinal Müller is known to have been a conservative voice within the curia. Contrary to other German prelates, he backed more traditional interpretations of Chapter 8 of the document, which touched on the reception of Communion for divorced and remarried couples. Regarding his new role, Cardinal Müller said that after ceasing his position as head of the CDF he will stay at the Vatican. “I will work academically, continue to serve in my role as cardinal, do pastoral work. There is enough for me to do in Rome,” he said, adding that “in any case, I would normally be a pensioner by now”.—CNA/CNS

Christian, Muslim leaders: Lebanon a light of coexistence By DoREEN aBi RaaD

OP Christian and Muslim leaders and Lebanese government representatives agreed that Lebanon should be highlighted as an example of peaceful coexistence, noting that “the deepening of democracy in Lebanon sends a message of hope to the Arabs and to the world”. They also reiterated calls for peace and various Churches’ support for “the Palestinian people and their national rights” and for Christians to remain in the Holy Land. The leaders met at Notre Dame University Louaize in Zouk Mosbeh, north of Beirut, for a follow-up to two events at Egypt’s al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s highest institute of learning. Addressing a peace conference at al-Azhar in April, Pope Francis emphasised that religion “is not a problem, but a part of the solution” because it helps people lift their hearts towards God “to learn how to build the city of man”. Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of Maronite Catholics, spearheaded the meeting, which included the Vatican ambassador to

Lebanon, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia; Sheik Abbas Shouman, deputy of the grand imam of Al Azhar; leaders of the Sunni, Shiite and Druze communities in Lebanon as well as Christian and Muslim experts and Lebanese government representatives. In their final statement, conference participants declared their willingness to go to the Vatican and other Christian and Islamic world religious institutions “to cooperate and coordinate with them”. They

also expressed “their desire to clarify the importance and challenges of a common living (Muslims and Christians) in Lebanon, which is the true guarantee of freedom, sovereignty and national independence”. The conferees called for establishing Lebanon as an official international centre of dialogue among religions, cultures and civilisations “to serve the Arab world and Christian-Muslim relations of the world”.—CNS

First lay ‘pope’s voice’ dies

OAQUIN Navarro-Valls, who spent 22 years as director of the Vatican press office, died on July 5 at 80. Born in Cartagena, Spain, on November 16, 1936, Dr Navarro-Valls, a medical doctor by training, was the first lay journalist to hold the position when he was appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1984. He was also a member of Opus Dei. An author of books on the family and fluent in several languages, Dr Navarro-Valls often provided colourful, picturesque details concerning St John Paul’s activities and daily life. He also acted many times as an adviser to the pope on the media impact of papal decisions. He travelled with the pope on almost all his apostolic journeys and became a well-recognised figure, especially after the pope fell ill in 2004. He regularly held press conferences to relay news to the world of the pope’s deteriorating condition.

Farid Georges, a syriac Christian from Homs, shows artwork depicting syria’s six-year war in Catholic cathedrals in England and Wales. (Photo: simon Caldwell/CNs)

Syrian‘s paintings of war ‘a cry for help’

LEVEN works inspired by the Syrian war are being shown in the Catholic cathedrals of northwest England and Wales in an exhibition called “Portraits of Faith: Syria’s Christians’ Search for Peace”. They are the creations of Farid Georges, a Syriac Christian from Homs, Syria, who has depicted the six-year war in his native country in about two dozen paintings. Mr Georges, 70, a professional artist, recalled how in 2013 he personally witnessed the explosion that he would later capture in oil on canvas. “This was particularly painful to paint,” he said. “I saw the smoke rising and knew

there was an explosion, and when I eventually went to the scene I was confronted with the scale of the damage, the destruction, and the sheer number of casualties, people who had perished of all different ages,” Mr Georges said. He added that to this day he does not know the source of the attack. “I don’t care to know,” he said, adding: “This sort of thing shouldn’t happen anywhere.” Mr Georges said he knew “many, many people” who died in Homs. They included Fr Frans van der Lugt, 75, a Dutch Jesuit shot in the head in 2014 by assassins after he refused to abandon the poor and homeless of the city.—CNS

Congo bishops demand elections C muslim and Christian religious leaders at Notre Dame University Louaize in Zouk mosbeh, Lebanon. (Photo: mychel akl/CNs)

In 1992, Dr Navarro-Valls overhauled the press office with a $2 million technological face-lift along with much-needed, modernised facilities. He also revolutionised the distribution of material by making archives, documents and statistics concerning the pope’s activity available online. Current press director Greg Burke

Dr Joaquin Navarro-valls, director of the vatican press office from 1984 to2006, who has died. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNs)

said he did not always agree with Dr Navarro-Valls, but his predecessor “always behaved like a Christian gentleman—and those can be hard to find these days”.—CNS

ATHOLIC bishops in Congo have accused their government of suppressing civil liberties and demanded free elections envisaged under a Church-brokered New Year accord in December. “The miserable situation we’re living in reflects the persistent social-economic crisis, which is due to the failure to organise elections,” the bishops’ conference said. “Although our republic’s constitution guarantees every citizen the right to enjoy their freedoms, we’re seeing a growing restriction on freedom of expression and the barring of peaceful demonstrations, alongside an excessive use of force.” In a 24-point message after their plenary in Kinshasa, the bishops said they were “profoundly alarmed” by deteriorating economic, security and humanitarian conditions, as well as by rampant corruption and fiscal abuses. They added that 60 Catholic parishes had been “profaned and closed” during nationwide violence, along with 31 Catholic health centres and 141 Church-run schools, while 20 Catholic villages and thousands of private homes

had been “completely destroyed”. “The massive, uncontrolled and permanent presence of foreign armed groups is sowing desolation,” the bishops’ conference said. “Defenders of human rights, and political and social actors whose views differ from those in power are regularly threatened or arbitrarily arrested, while those responsible for these violations are not pursued by the judicial system.” In their message, the bishops said living conditions were now “more than precarious” for most Congolese, as “a minority of fellow citizens take the lives of millions hostage”. They added that government forces and UN peacekeepers had been unable to end the violence, including nine months of fighting with rebel militias in Grand Kasai province that left nearly 3 400 dead and more than a million displaced. Addressing local officials in Lubumbashi, Congo, Congolese president Joseph Kabila accused the bishops of “seeking to create disorder”, and threatening his government by insisting “it’s December or nothing”.—CNS

The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ask: ‘How would Jesus act?’ I

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

N his column “What would Jesus do?” (June 28), Fr Chris Townsend makes liberal use of rather scornful imagery. Dare I speak up for those who ask the question “What would Jesus do?” when I am going to be painted as a “caftan-wearing, circledancing folk music lover”? I do not wear the bracelet myself (nor a caftan, for that matter), but I do sympathise with the ultimate question to some extent. In the Church today there seems

The Pell dilemma

N responding to the disgrace of sexual abuse of minors by Church personnel and their cover-up in many dioceses throughout the world, the Catholic Church has done much to repair the loss of confidence the scandals have caused. Most bishops’ conferences have adopted rigorous protocols governing the handling of allegations of abuse, and Pope Francis has removed some bishops who failed to deal appropriately with such allegations. Pope Francis has also instituted the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. But there also continue to be failures and even deliberate efforts to undermine anti-abuse efforts. When Marie Collins, an abuse survivor of unimpeachable integrity and generosity of spirit, resigned from the Commission for the Protection of Minors earlier this year, she cited as one reason the obstructionism she perceived in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—a charge the pope subsequently described, with diplomatic understatement, as “a little bit right”. Pope Francis has been clear about his views on abuse and the mishandling of abuse allegations. So the news that Cardinal George Pell, head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy and a member of the pope’s ninemember advisory group of cardinals, will this month face multiple charges relating to sexual abuse in an Australian court has placed Pope Francis in a delicate position. In 2014 he moved Cardinal Pell from the archdiocese of Sydney to the Vatican at a time when the cardinal was embattled over his handling of past abuse cases. Should the latest charges against Cardinal Pell have merit, which the prelate has denied in the strongest terms, then this will reflect directly also on Pope Francis. Cardinal Pell must be commended for doing the right thing in willingly subjecting himself to the justice where others have sought, and were given, exile in the Vatican to evade it. However, that the cardinal has been granted a “leave of absence” to defend the charges against him is a soft response to a critical situation. The norm, though not universally applied, is that when a

priest is credibly accused of having committed acts of sexual abuse, he is removed from active ministry until the law and Church processes have taken their course. For priests who have been unjustly accused, this has been a very difficult and unfair situation. But in the context of the Church’s history, it is a necessary policy. According to the police deputy commissioner of Victoria state, Cardinal Pell “is facing multiple charges in respect of historical sexual offences and there are multiple complainants relating to those charges”. Clearly, the allegations against the cardinal are deemed credible, and now they must be tested in court. Cardinal Pell is entitled to protest strongly against the charges levelled against him—he has called the investigation a “relentless character assassination”—and he must be considered innocent unless found to be otherwise by the court. The presumption of innocence applies to all priests who are facing allegations, even when they are removed from active ministry; a procedural step that does not in itself imply guilt. But the question must be asked: Why was that norm not applied to Cardinal Pell? Why is the cardinal on a “leave of absence”, requested on his own initiative to clear his name, when other priests in similar predicaments do not have such a choice? Why was the cardinal not automatically suspended from ministry? The optics are not good, from different angles (and should the cardinal be convicted, they would be devastating). For those who are following the Church’s response to the abuse crisis with a critical eye, there will be a not entirely unjustified perception that Pope Francis is selective about applying the strict rules he himself has endorsed. For priests, and for the laity, the generous terms by which Cardinal Pell may take a leave of absence can appear to be a double standard that has no place in today’s Church: the notion that priests of rank should be subject to different treatment than those of no rank. when prominent clerics are accused of crimes, the Church must be seen to be acting with decisive integrity. In the case of Cardinal Pell, we must interrogate whether it actually did so.

ST ANTHONYS CHILD and YOUTH CARE CENTRE Keeping Children safe within families

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Errors in history of Church in SA

ERHAPS you will allow me to correct some errors in the brief history of the Church in South Africa published on the front page (June 21). The place of Bishop Bede Slater’s residence was not forced on him by “anti-Catholic laws”. In 1820 there was comparatively little legal discrimination against Catholics in Great Britain, and effectively none in the Cape Colony, which lacked a parliament and universities (the main arenas of public life still barred to Catholics in the mother country at that date). The decision that Bishop Slater reside in Mauritius (where the majority of his flock lived) was a prudential one taken by the secretary of state in London who was anxious not to antagonise Anglican colonists by permitting a Catholic bishop to outrank the local senior Anglican cleric. As for Bishop Griffith, he arrived at the Cape on Holy Saturday 1838, not in 1837 (that was the year of his episcopal ordination). All the relevant details are accessible in a work published by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference in 1988 to commemorate the 150-year anniversary of Bishop Griffith’s arrival: The Cape Diary of Bishop Griffith, 1837-1839, edited by Joy Brain, copies of which may still be available. Martin Keenan, Paarl

to be a harsh tendency (especially among us clergy) to treat the People of God as “canonical cattle” who must be held in check at all costs. Now, certainly leadership demands that one often has to make unpopular decisions, as indeed Jesus himself did among his apostles. Yet I still don’t think it is a nonsense concept to ask: “What would Jesus do?” Perhaps it’s more a question of the spirit in which Jesus would do it. I certainly don’t suppose that opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately. Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

things as they are, and few priests in their homilies are able to do that, for fear of offending someone. But the truth is not an offence; it bears the essence of Christ in his gospel teachings. We are by nature all sinners and I know Christ got that, but why hide behind a mask? It is the truth, and often the truth offends us. Well done to someone who is able to call a spade a spade. I am proud to be associated as a Catholic with someone who writes and feels the truth. We do not often hear the truth which, in my view, is expressed euphemistically to ward off how much angry people would have to say about it, and how offended they might be. When God made the rules and Jesus proclaimed them to the crowds, he held nothing back. Why is it so difficult now, in this day and age, to tell the truth? We would have more religious vocations and more people attending church if the truth were proclaimed as it should be. Charmane Waldner, Port Elizabeth

Truth doctored Sin of abortion for fear of offence warrants hell HE letter by JH Goossens (June

14) was brilliantly and aptly worded in terms of our public and private morality. He went to the essence of the teaching of Christ in the gospels in stressing the importance of private morality. I admire the honesty and truth behind all he had to say. It takes great courage to state

HE existence of hell is a reality, as illustrated by the many references to it by Our Lord in the New Testament. Nevertheless, this fact is almost never mentioned by our Church hierarchy, nor the fact that the only ones who go there are those who die unrepentant in mortal sin, which results from acts of grave

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July 5 to July 11, 2017

Martin Scorsese: How faith shaped me

Page 5

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5039

BY ERIN CARELSE

Clergy of the archdiocese of Cape Town at a Mass in the city’s St Mary’s cathedral to launch the year of celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Catholic Church being established in South Africa. In the facing aisle sat religious. On the left in the right front pew is Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS, secretary-general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

Catholic schools likely safe from ruling

ATHOLIC schools are unlikely to be affected by a court ruling that public education institutions cannot promote any one religion to the exclusion of others. Judge Willem van der Linde of Johannesburg’s High Court ruled that religious observances may be conducted at state or state-aided institutions, as long as they are held on an equitable basis and attendance was voluntary.

Special

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Pilgrimage to Portugal and Spain

State-funded Catholic schools—the socalled public schools on private property—are subject to specific legal agreements in accordance with the South African Schools Act and policy. The ruling does not apply to private Catholic schools. The Catholic Institute of Education said it the judgment before it will com-

is studying ment on it.

Th e

SA Church now in year building up to bicentenary STAFF REPORTER

HE Southern African Church is now in the year leading up to the 200th an-

niversary of its founding. The year was officially rung in with a solemn in Cape Town’s packed St Mary’s cathedral at which chief celebrant Archbishop Stephen Brislin was joined by ten other bishops from around the country. In his opening remarks, Archbishop Brislin stressed that this is a national jubilee that must be celebrated in all dioceses. The appointment in June 1818 of Bishop Bede Slater OSB to provide pastoral care for the vicariate of the Cape of Good Hope marked the birth of the Catholic Church in what is now South Africa. In fact, Archbishop Brislin pointed out, the vicariate of the Cape of Good Hope was also responsible for the pastoral care of the territories of Australia and New Zealand. In that way, Cape Town is the mother church of those two countries. Archbishop Brislin blessed jubilee candles

S outhern C ross &

for every diocese in the Southern African region. These are to be lit on the day when the Church cerebrates its 200th birthday next June. In the interim, the archdiocese is staging several events to build up to the jubilee, including choir festivals, a youth competition, deanery celebrations, and a street procession of the Blessed Sacrament. The opening Mass for the jubilee year was a multi-cultural affair, with readings delivered in Portuguese and Afrikaans, and the offertory procession punctuated by Xhosa chants. The music for the Kyrie, Gospel acclamation, the Sanctus, Mysterium Fidei and Agnus Dei was composed by Fr Martin Pender, who until recently served in Cape Town. At the beginning of the Mass, Archbishop Peter Wells, apostolic nuncio to Southern Africa, read out a message from Pope Francis. In it the pope hoped that “like the first Christians, Catholics in South Africa may be Continued on page 3

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N response to Carmen Smith’s letter (June 14), let me suggest she read the Apostle Paul’s letters anew to discern exactly what he meant by being a “victim-soul”. (See Colossians 1:25.) Jesus’ words, “Let him who has no sin cast the first stone” apply today, as ever. Is it not a good thing to have sympathy and to pray for sinners as well as those abused? “I prefer to leave the judging to God,” as Mahatma Gandhi so wisely once said, “since we’re all so imperfect.” John Lee, Johannesburg

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“Starting next Palm Sunday, leading up to the synod, will be an opportune time for adults in the Church to reach out to the youth, in their parishes and locally,” Fr Dlamini said. “Take some time to listen to the youth, engage with them, support them, and respond to their needs,” he said. Noting that some parishes have no youth structure, he said that support for the youth is lacking. “This has an impact not just on the Continued on page 3

Sinners need sympathy too

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Page 10

South African youth at World Youth Day in 2016. The Church is inviting young people to tell the Church what they think in an online questionnaire. (Photo: Lebogang Lentsoane)

matter committed by them with full knowledge and full consent. Every day in our nation, large numbers of our unborn infants are murdered by legalised abortion on demand, an evil which is without doubt mortally sinful. It is, however, a very sobering reality that most abortions in the world result not from conventional surgical abortions, but from abortifacient birth control. This is practised by many married and unmarried cohabiting Catholics. The most popular birth control method is the Pill, the abortifacient potential of which is lucidly explained by American Randy Alcorn in his booklet Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? This booklet can be read online at www.epm.org/static/uploads/down loads/bcpill.pdf and should be compulsory reading for clerical and lay Catholics. In conclusion, Fr Copeland SJ, our headmaster at St Aiden’s College in Grahamstown, once gave us a very brief, but chilling and eminently logical, talk on hell which left a deep impression on all of us. In it he stated that, if any persons should go to hell, anyone who once knew and loved them would, in the life hereafter, no longer do so, and would never have known of their existence. Damian McLeish, Johannesbur

Do you wear the stench of corruption?

Making it rain with prayers of pilgrims

Tell pope what you think, youth urged HE South African youth chaplain has urged young people to tell the Vatican what they think in preparation for next year’s Synod of Bishops. The Vatican has set up an online questionnaire on its website which will enable Catholic and even non-Catholic youth to communicate their views and concerns to the Church. The idea is for the bishops to better understand the lives, and attitudes of young people,. The Vatican has released an online questionnaire, asking young people across the world for their opinions on social issues, and the Church, and about their lives and influences. “All the youth, not just Catholic—of any religion and any denomination—should contribute and fill in the questionnaire online as this will influence the shaping of the programme for next year,” said Fr Mthembeni Dlamini CMM, youth chaplain and coordinator of youth programmes in the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and national chaplain to the Association of Catholic Tertiary Students (Acts). He cited Pope Francis who has said “that we often talk about the youth, and we decide for them, but we never listen”. “This is their opportunity to be heard,” Fr Dlamini said. The youth chaplain also encouraged dialogue within parishes.

Jesus would do it in a way that would belittle them in any way. What I myself get from the image of the Good Shepherd going in search of the single sheep that went astray is that Jesus is prepared to go the extra mile to accommodate his people. So, perhaps because of the negative associations with the “What would Jesus do?”question, maybe it’s time for a new one. Instead of WWJD, I propose that we clergy might wear AIAIC, to denote “Am I acting in Christ?” Fr Peter Sitwala, Pretoria

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The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

PERSPECTIVES The Carmelite scapular—a devotion going back to an apparition by our Lady to st simon stock on July 16, 1251— serves to remind those who wear it that faith, hope and love are required for salvation.

Fr Boniface D’Souza OCD

Point of Reflection

What’s behind the scapular

N July 16 the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This feast is popularly known as “scapular feast” because the scapular devotion has come down from the Carmelites. Originally it was a practical garment. A scapular was a type of work apron, consisting of large pieces of cloth front and back, joined over the shoulders with strips of cloth. It developed as a practical garment, protecting one’s clothes during work. In time it became invested with spiritual significance, protection, consecration or dedication to God. This scapular was given by Mother Mary as a sign of protection. When the Carmelite Order was in crisis, the general of the order, St Simon Stock, prayed to Our Lady to protect the order from danger. On July 16, 1251, when he was in prayer, Mother Mary appeared to him, gave him the brown scapular, and promised: “Take this scapular; it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.” Though the historicity of this documentation is disputed, after Our Lady appeared to St Simon, almost immediately a miraculous change took place in the Carmelite Order. The best-known and most highly esteemed scapular, and the one most favoured by the Church and by the Blessed Virgin in many of her apparitions, is the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is adapted from the scapular of the Carmelite Order and represents a special consecration to Our Lady under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Those who wear it practise a special devotion to Mary. In addition, the person has a special entrustment of themselves to Mary for their salvation. This, in fact, has been promised to those who faithfully wear the scapular: “Those who die wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire”.

his must not be understood superstitiously or magically, but in light of Catholic teaching that perseverance in faith, hope and love are required for salvation. The scapular is a powerful reminder of this Christian obligation and of Mary’s promise to help those consecrated to her to obtain the grace of final perseverance. One of the great mysteries of our time is that the majority of Catholics either ignores or has entirely forgotten this heavenly promise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady further says: “Wear the scapular devoutly and perseveringly. It is my garment. To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of me and I in turn am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life.” With regard to the scapular as a convention and sacred sign, the Church has intervened at various times in history to clarify its meaning, defend it and confirm the privileges. From these Church documents there emerges the nature and meaning of the Carmelite scapular. • The scapular is a Marian habit or garment. It is both a sign and pledge. A sign of belonging to Mary, a pledge of her motherly protection, not only in this life but after death. • It is a conventional sign signifying three elements strictly joined. First, belonging to a religious family particularly devoted to Mary, especially dear to Mary, the Carmelite Order. Second, consecration to Mary, devotion to and trust in her Immaculate Heart. Third, a motivation to become like Mary by imitating her virtues, above all her humility, chastity and spirit of prayer. n Fr D’Souza is a Carmelite priest currently at Kempton Park parish in Johannesburg.

How drama opens spaces T HE National Arts Festival in Grahamstown is always full of surprising delights, secular and also sacred. Among the latter this year, I was pleased to encounter an a capella gospel group from a coloured church in Port Elizabeth; a Sunday liturgy at the Anglican cathedral which set Latin Mass texts to jazz music; and a brilliant reworking of Molière’s play Tartuffe, which is in effect a 400-year-old theological debate between Jesuits and Jansenists. But I was especially surprised to encounter a compelling play from a boys’ high school; even more surprised that it was a Catholic school; and yet more surprised that the play dealt honestly and sensitively with taboo subjects. The play was called Sisazabalaza (“We are still struggling”) and came from St Benedict’s College in Johannesburg. This is a school that I confess to associating more with rugby and rowing than with the creative arts, and yet here was a group of 15 okeish young men, aged 16-18, presenting a play that they had written themselves and dealing with themes that they had selected. And the themes were not easy: a successful student on the edge of depression, a drunken and corrupt father, a role model older brother throwing his life away, a bullying teacher, economic inequality among teens, the rape of a girlfriend caught up in the crossfire. Two teachers, Brittany Craze and Karen McAnda, had coached the actors in developing the script. But, they assured me, the themes and the characters were the boys’ own choices. It was during conversations in drama workshops about the issues that troubled them that the boys themselves identified these themes and then created the realistic characters who portrayed them. Inevitably, some of the characters were heavily drawn from the boys’ own lives or from people they knew. But they were also

not afraid to be more subversive in their character development. For example, a note of humour was introduced through a white cop who wanted to be black and a black cop who wanted to be white. And there was a young man who played the character of the girlfriend, not in caricature or jokeyness but with great sensitivity and restraint.

arents and educators often worry about the EQ, the emotional intelligence quotient of young men today. They are locked away in their rooms with their Playstations or lost in music played through their ear buds; we don’t know what they are thinking and we worry. The work of the St Benedict’s group showed that drama can give young men the tools they need to have hard conversations with their peers, with their parents and, in fact, with themselves. Catholic schools, rightly or wrongly, have not always had a reputation for radical social honesty. Certainly they produce great results and excellent discipline. But are they seen as places where there are authentic conversations about hard topics? This group showed that they can be and set a bar for other schools to follow. In Sisazabalaza the topics were alcohol,

scene from the play Sisazabalaza, which has been developed and performed at the Grahamstown arts Festival by st Benedict’s College in Johannesburg.

Raymond Perrier

Faith and society

depression, rape, untimely death, bullying and poverty. Another time they might have chosen drugs, contraception, sexual orientation, relationships or cheating. We know that these subjects are preoccupying many of our young people. Faced by this, parents and schools have three possible responses: denial, dictation and dialogue. The first attitude is what prevailed when I was at school: if difficult things are not spoken about then they do not exist or will magically go away. Of course, we know that does not work. A second approach, dictation, is when an adult decides what the young person needs to know or think—about drugs or Aids or life—and then keeps telling them over and over again. The student ends up able to repeat what they have been told. Whether it actually changes their behaviour remains unproven. Dialogue is the approach that demands most work but, in the long run, is the most effective. This recognises that it is best to start with the young person—his or her life, experiences, values, concerns—and build from there. It still allows space for the young person to be challenged—by adults and also by other young people–but it gives space for the voices of the young people themselves. Drama is an excellent way to provide that space and allows a safer context in which to discuss “hard topics”. One line in the Sisazabalaza play really sticks with me. The boy who has raped his girlfriend is asked by his abusive father why he did it. “I don’t know how to love because you never taught me. But I know how to hurt, papa, because you taught me that.” I also saw the power of this last year with a play about street-dwelling drug users Continued on page 11

Let’s hear it for Gogo and Oupa Toni Rowland R EGULAR readers of this column know about “Families Walk the Talk”, Marfam’s theme for 2017. As the Church celebrates the feast of the grandparents of Jesus this month, we’ve chosen that aspect of family life for reflection in July. Some introductory thoughts: “Grandparents, as they grow older, may have difficulty with the walking, but probably not with the talking. “Their wisdom and maturity should earn them respect. Many play an important role in families, assisting with passing on the faith which is rightly a parent’s responsibility, or caring for grandchildren and continuing to support their adult children in their tasks. “Care for the elderly themselves is a family’s responsibility returning the love they have and continue to receive.” Pope Francis in his letter The Joy of Love writes: “A family that fails to respect and cherish its grandparents who are its living memory is already in decline, whereas a family that remembers has a future.“ We perceive grandparenting in so many different ways. You are called Granny, Ouma, Nan or Gogo in a generic way by all the workers in the retirement village because it is easier than remembering the many Mrs So-And-Sos or the fewer Mr This-Or-Thats. In today’s type of families, with divorce and remarriage, children may have three or even four grandmothers—something quite hard for them to keep up with. But would you have thought that being a grandparent is likely to take up a large portion of your life, for some even the greater half? Becoming a grandparent is one of those life situations that you don’t choose, like

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Grandparents and their grandchildren. July is Grandparents’ month. widowhood. A three-generation family is not uncommon, and it is less than ideal if it is grandmother, mother and children—sons or daughters. Hundreds of such families also subsist on the grandparent’s pension or some social grants. That is one form of poverty that needs to be addressed.

owever, another form of poverty, often spoken about by St Teresa of Kolkata, is the poverty of intimacy, of a lack of love, poor relationships or neglect, which can happen in any income group. Many residents in retirement complexes depend on fellow elderly residents for companionship because they don’t see or hear from their children, let alone their grandchildren—unless they need a loan. In many such cases families have become divided, children might have moved overseas, and grandparent-grandchild relationships hardly exist. Other older folks are good at social media and communicate regularly on

CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS

Facebook or WhatsApp. Of course, these social media relationships mean that the beauty of nice letters to write or read has all but disappeared. It can also be painful to find out about your grandchildren’s achievements on Facebook, especially if not particularly addressed to you. Being a grandparent is, of course, also a source of so much joy: from the time of the baby’s birth throughout the years of growing up. Being a grandparent requires give, receive and take, graciously and gratefully too. There has to be an active component, but not an overly pushy one. There is much that can be done, but it may be little more than loving (maybe from a distance) and praying about the challenges they face now and in future, their dropping out of church and concern about their faith-life. So I recommend that parishes have a Grandparent Commemoration, remembering them at Mass around July 26—the feast of Ss Anne & Joachim, the grandparents of Our Lord—thanking, blessing, supporting and informing the community about their needs. I also suggest a prayer time for those intentions, privately or in a group. Maybe the prayer on page 11, from the July-September Family Faith Focus booklet, hits the right note.

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The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

COMMUNITY

Ursuline nuns celebrated the 450-year anniversary of their founder mother anne de Xainctonge, and the final profession of sr ignatius. Bishop sithembele sipuka of mthatha said mass and gave the homily. Fellow nuns and friends from across south africa and Zimbabwe were present. appreciation was expressed for sr mary shange, the provincial of the society of st Ursula in south africa.

Holy Rosary school in Edenvale, Johannesburg, held its annual alumni reunion. seen here are members of the Class of 2007. (Back from left) Rachana Desai, maxine isherwood, Lianna Lisinski (Da silva), Kayleigh spurway, stacey Proudfoot, Rachel auckland, Calire Earley, mandy Nienaber, sharee Jones and angelique Koll (Pascoe). (Front from left) Claudia Caetano, sarah macqueen, Kerri Roff (Rudolph), angela mackinnon, Gina Ghisleni, Caylee Jenzen and andrea mcCormack (Bower).

The Rosa mystica ladies’ rosary group celebrated Fr severino salvoro’s 75th birthday. The group has been meeting every week for the past 38 years in the Pretoria area.

Fr sakhi mofokeng held a retreat for the congregation of Rivonia parish in Johannesburg.

Grade 9s from maryvale College in Johannesburg participated in the Lovematters programme at the Don Bosco Centre in Walkerville.

members of Nyolohelo parish in sebokeng, Johannesburg archdiocese, celebrated Corpus Christ with a procession. mass was then said by their former parish priest Fr solomon mphela oFm, who was visiting, assisted by Deacon simon mokoena.

Prison Care and Support Network Caring for Inmates, Ex-inmates and their Families UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH PBO 930033684 23 Morningside Street, Pinelands 7405 * Tel: 021 5310550/021 5311348 * E-fax: 086 6284499 * Email: prisoncare@mweb.co.za * Website: www.pcsn.org.za * Facebook page: Prison Care and Support Network

Higher education is one of the most power deterrents to crime and re-incarceration. Education transforms a ƉĞƌƐŽŶ͛Ɛ ƐĞŶƐĞ ŽĨ ƐĞůĨ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ǁĂǇƐ ƚŚĂƚ Ă ƉĞƌƐŽŶ ƌĞůĂƚĞƐ to his or her family, community, and the world. In this sense, higher education transforms the lives of students and their children and promotes lasting transitions out of prison. Study after study has demonstrated that education, particularly higher education, is one of the most effective ways to break cycles of poverty, incarceration and re-incarceration because higher education creates inroads of advanced education in communities that suffer from a chronic lack of access.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

Prison Care and Support Network (PCSN) provides learning opportunities for offenders and parolees, allowing them to use their sentences constructively and focus on a positive future. The aid include financial support to 21 beneficiaries during 2016, together with emotional support and monitoring during incarceration and after release. Fields of study include Higher Diploma in Adult Basic Education & Training; Diploma in Marketing Management; Diploma in Public Relations; SMME; Diploma in Public Relations; Bachelor of Accounting Science; Diploma in Electrical Engineering, etc. The organization receive hundreds of applications to study annually, however are not able to assist the majority due to funding constraints. Join hands with Prison Care and Support Network today by assisting a number of offenders with rehabilitation through tertiary education to obtain their qualification.

How? By donating a new or pre-owned laptop to aid offenders with their studies for research and to enable them to submit online assignments.

Kindly call Alledene Cupido, Programme Co-ordinator, Monday to Friday between 09:00 and 16:00 at 021 531 0550/1348 or via e-fax: 086 628 4499 or email: prisoncare@mweb.co.za All donations will be highly appreciated.

on the feast of Corpus Christi, members of st anthony’s parish in sedgefield, together with assistant parish priest Fr augustine mbekwa and Deacon Lucas Timmers, processed through the streets of the town. The parish’s newly formed choir accompanied the procession.

members of the Catholic Women’s League at our Lady of Fatima parish in Durban North, helped by fellow Durban knitters, have produced 111 blankets, 60 baby jerseys, 22 children’s jerseys, 125 beanies, 28 scarves, seven pairs of mittens and booties, and one bag of various over the last year.

FAITH

The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

How to proclaim Christ today The Church must reach out in love to those who feel excluded by it. As Archbishop sTEPHEN BRisLiN looks at the pioneering Church of South Africa, he explains how we might do so.

people in an institutionalised way. A characteristic of our times, most especially in large urban areas, is anonymity. Not only is there the loneliness of urban life that Pope Francis has spoken of frequently, but people are dealt with in a way that makes them feel stripped of personality and dignity. Whether it is automated responses to telephone enquiries, being boxed into a computer profile UR foremothers and forefa- that prohibits you from receiving a thers who embarked on the bank loan, or simply the disinterest perilous journeys to proclaim we so often experience when seekthe Gospel and to establish the ing assistance—people are made to Church in South Africa—an un- feel as a mere number, one among known and untested place—were millions of others, who are obliged men and women of great courage, to “fit into” the system. The system is paramount, not committed resolve and a sincere love of God and the message en- the person. As the Holy Father has said: “We trusted to them by Christ. They were, undoubtedly, saints are in an age of knowledge and inand sinners, those who did good formation, which has led to new and those who sinned and made and often anonymous kinds of mistakes. Whatever their weak- power” (Evangelii Gaudium 52). And nesses and the mistakes they made, yet Christ reminds us that sparrows the faith has spread to every corner may be sold two for a penny but we of the countries of our region, and are more valuable to the extent that every hair on our head is counted the faith is alive and growing. The history of the Catholic (Mt 10:26-31). Christ transforms the hearts of Church—tainted as it may be with intentional or unintentional collu- people through a personal ension with colonialism and counter, by his merciful and generapartheid, discrimination and sex ous forgiveness, his tenderness in abuse cases—has nonetheless, dealing with the broken, the humthrough the strength of Christ, ble and the poor. As we recall our mission to evanbrought life and hope, not only to gelise, it is Christ whom we model ourselves but to Southern Africa. ourselves on—Christ The first missionaries who treated every who arrived, primarily 'People are person as a person, intent on ministering to with humanity and Catholic colonialists and made to feel kindness. It is intrinsoldiers, soon took the as mere sic to our faith to Gospel to indigenous human life. peoples, to the opnumbers who value Remembering the pressed and indigent— past, we turn to the are obliged the very peripheries that future. We know that Pope Francis frequently to “fit into” the task to evangelise talks of. is urgent and must be To establish the the system. embraced with pasChurch and spread the The system is sion. faith also meant to proIn the words of the vide education, training paramount, not Holy Father: “Go out. and medical care. the person.' Go out and share Through much pain, your testimony, go anxiety and self-sacriout and interact with fice, many educational and medical facilities were estab- your brothers and sisters, go out and lished that developed and gave share, go out and ask. Become the hope to millions over the course of Word in body as well as spirit.” these 200 years. The frontiers have changed. No In latter years, through circum- longer do we need to travel on long stances—not least the decrease in and dangerous journeys to other vocations to the priesthood and con- continents and peoples, but we turn secrated life—many of these facilities to our own brothers and sisters, perhave had to close or be given over to haps tired in the faith, perhaps havgovernment and other bodies. ing abandoned the faith. For those who may think of a Open hearts to Christ past “golden age”, this might seem Our proclamation of faith is not a sign of failure or a crisis in the sense of devastation. As sad as such so much as to win converts as it is closures may be, in many respects, to open hearts to Christ and his it is more a crisis of new opportuni- salvific message, to transform our ties, of change, for we are a people society in the image of Christ. And so the new frontiers become of hope, knowing that Christ is with the spheres of life that influence and us until the end of days. For, as important as such institu- shape our societies, that can either tions are, and as important as the liberate and enhance human life or role they played and continue to can limit and dehumanise people. Not only do we witness to Christ play, as much as we need them, the truth is that institutions are both a in the public square, but we Christianise the spheres of politics, ecoblessing and a potential danger. education—the very They are a source of blessing as nomics, they have provided educational and culture of our society. There is health benefits to so many, they much good in all these spheres, but have established dedicated places of there is also much that is evil and worship—they have changed lives that destroys. Certainly, the prophetic voice of for the better and provided a means the Church must be heard loudly as for evangelisation. But they also demand time, we oppose violence in all its many maintenance, management, leading forms: the violence of blood-shedus away from the mission given to ding, the violence of poverty and us by Jesus at the time of his Ascen- the structures that entrench poverty, sion, to “go therefore and make dis- the violence against the environciples of all the nations, baptising ment, the culture of death, of greed them in the name of the Father and and corruption. The prophetic voice is not a voice the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Mt that seeks popularity from any quar28:9). They can lull us into a sense of ter—it seeks only truth and that comfort and satisfaction, perhaps which can bring about goodness. Yet, as much as that voice may be even leading us into believing that “this is the Church” —that institu- needed, it is insufficient for evangetions are the end rather than the lisation and transformation of means, and to devote all our energy hearts. The kindness and encouragement of mercy, healing and reconto preserve them, no matter what. ciliation is intrinsic to Christ. The biggest danger Bl Oscar Romero, the martyred The biggest danger lies within archbishop of San Salvador, put it ourselves if we develop an institu- this way: “Let us not tire of preachtional attitude and begin to treat ing love; it is the force that will over-

great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble”. Our words of preaching are empty without the witness of our actions of compassion and mercy, and even our acknowledgment of uncertainty.

Proof that faith is alive

archbishop stephen Brislin preaches during the mass in Cape Town’s st mary’s cathedral that launched the bicentennial celebrations of the establishment of the Catholic Church in south africa. (Photo: Günther simmermacher) come the world. Let us not tire of preaching love. Though we see that waves of violence succeed in drowning the fire of Christian love, love must win out; it is the only thing that can.” Pope Francis repeatedly calls the Church to mercy—the very essence of the Gospel—and proclaimed last year the Year of Mercy. It is to the suffering that we must turn. In the words again of Archbishop Romero: “We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.”

The call of cries of despair But it is not only the physical poverty that calls to us. It is the cry of those in despair, in doubt and confusion, beset with anxiety or lack of purpose, those who are searching and seeking for truth. It is the cry of the lonely, the sick, the mentally challenged. It is the cry of humanity, thirsting for truth and for love. We cannot treat people anony-

mously, or in a distant, cold and “institutionalised” manner. We cannot neglect to respond to the cries we hear because those calling are sinners or outcasts. The response we make is not from superiority or arrogance, from a triumphalistic Church. It is from humility that we offer the refreshing water we have received from Christ to those who are thirsty. The bread we offer to the poor man is not our bread, but bread we have received from Christ and which we share with him. Our evangelisation is not from a certainty that we have all the answers and know what is right in every situation. We evangelise through sharing our own lives, our stories, our happinesses, struggles and weakness, for we are but fellow-pilgrims journeying together to the Promised Land. In Christ, the Church has the fullness of truth, but in our humanity we have only poverty. “If one has the answers to all the questions, that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself”, says Pope Francis. “The

So, as we live the present with passion we also embrace the future with hope. We learn from the missionaries who brought the faith to the southern tip of Africa—the daunting task they faced did not deter them from setting out. It would be easy for us, as we face the myriad problems and uncertainties of our countries and the modern world, to find the task at hand too much, impossible and overwhelming. And yet, the evidence not only of the past but also of the present, the evidence of a faith that is alive, of a growing and thriving Church, the evidence of the commitment, dedication and love of the modern day disciples, is ample testimony of the activity of the Holy Spirit and Christ’s abiding presence among his people. As for ourselves, we are to remain faithful always to Christ, not allowing ourselves to be “seduced into error” by systems, structures, ideologies or cultures that do not belong to him. We do not preach ourselves, our ideologies, visions or thoughts. We preach only Christ and the fruitfulness of the mission, and our very salvation lies in our ability to be faithful to who Christ is and what he taught us. In the words of St Paul, “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor 4:5). n This is a slightly abbreviated and edited version of the homily preached by Archbishop Brislin at the opening Mass in Cape Town’s St Mary’s cathedral for the jubilee year of the bicentennial celebration of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa. Archbishop Brislin heads the archdiocese of Cape Town and is the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

PRIESTS OF THE SACRED HEART “Here I am Lord” Cell: +27 72 769 7396, +27 83 471 6081 E-mail: vocation.office@ dehonafrica.net

Founder: Fr. Leo John Dehon (1843-1925)

Youth: Tell the Church what you think!

To involve young people in preparations for the synod of Bishops on youth in 2018, the vatican has released the long-awaited online questionnaire YOUNG PEOPLE, THE FAITH AND VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT to better understand the lives, attitudes and concerns of 16- to 29-year-olds around the world. The questionnaire is open to any young person, regardless of faith or religious belief:

https://survey-synod2018.glauco.it/limesurvey/index.php/147718

The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

PILGRIMAGE

From left: Pilgrims in the chapel of the birth of st Teresa in avila • The chair on which st John of the Cross sat as he heard confessions, displayed in alba de Tormes • The convent church of the annunciation in alba de Tormes, with st Teresa’s tomb above the altar • The medieval city walls of avila. (all photos by Günther simmermacher)

In the footsteps of a great saint The southern Cross’ recent pilgrimage to Fatima also went to the places of the great St Teresa of Avila in Spain. In the fourth and final part of his series on the pilgrimage, GüNTHER simmERmaCHER revisits Avila and Alba de Tormes.

FEW hours could have made the difference about whether St Teresa of Avila died on October 4 or on October 15. And on that cheerful note, our series of articles on the Southern Cross’ pilgrimage to Portugal and Spain takes us to the small Spanish town of Alba de Tormes. Located on the river Tormes, Alba is near the great city of Salamanca, where our group spent a very agreeable night. Salamanca, a city of great history, has one of Europe’s five oldest universities and two cathedrals: the Old and the New (which is also old). Its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a small group of us was fortunate to be shown some of it at night by Siyanda Mncwango, a bright South African seminarian studying at Salamanca’s Pontifical University to become a Missionaries of Mariannhill priest. Some 500 years ago, Alba de Tormes was an important centre of a dukedom, with 22 000 inhabitants and 18 churches. Today it’s an agricultural town of 5400 which draws a few pilgrims and tourists thanks to the still active convent of the Annunciation in which St Teresa of Avila died in 1582. The great Carmelite had arrived there 15 days earlier to visit the convent which she had founded 11 years before, and which is still active today.

Suddenly Teresa was taken very ill. While she was ailing, she asked that her sickbed be installed above the altar, so that she could be close to the Eucharist. She stayed there until just before her death. Her tomb was eventually installed in that spot, looming above the altar; one can see it behind a grille as one enters the convent church. The tomb can also be viewed up close, with the relics of St Teresa’s incorrupt heart and left arm on either side of the sarcophagus. Other possessions of St Teresa and her close associate, St John of the Cross, are on display in the convent’s museum.

October 5 was cancelled St Teresa was no conventional woman, and the timing of her death was suitably extraordinary. The recorded date of her death is October 4, 1582. That was the day on which Spain and other Catholic countries switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. So the day after Thursday, October 4 was Friday, October 15. It’s not clear whether St Teresa died before or after midnight, so by our reckoning the date of her death could be either October 4 or October 15. The official date is the 4th but—just to confuse things—the liturgical practice at the time counted the change of dates as of sunset, so according to that rule she died on the 15th, whether midnight had struck or not. October 15 is St Teresa’s feast day, even though the 4th is her official date of death. Normally a saint’s feast day falls on the anniversary of their death, except when it clashes with another major feast. But October 4 was already the feast day of St Francis of Assisi (who actually died on October 3 but was given the 4th as his feast because of the liturgical rule mentioned above). So St Teresa couldn’t share St Francis’ feast and was allocated the day after her offi-

st Teresa depicted in a monument outside the city walls of avila. cial date of death: not October 5, which didn’t exist that year, but October 15. Now, with all that calendar excitement dispensed with, take a deep breath… After her death, a long and bitter dispute broke out between Alba and Avila about which city would retain St Teresa’s remains. Both obviously had perfectly good claims. In the end, Alba won because of the intervention of its very powerful duke. The quirks of geography meant that we visited the location of St Teresa’s death before her birthplace, the magnificent medieval city of Avila.

Teresa’s Jewish grandfather St Teresa was born there on March 28, 1515 as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada. The house of her birth is now a church, built in the 17th century, with an ornate chapel marking the spot where the future saint came into the world. Her grandfather was a Jewish convert—though likely not by choice—who was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition for reverting to Judaism. But her father, Alonso, bought a knighthood and

S outher n C ross & Radio Veritas 100 Years Fatima Pilgrimage

T he The

1 - 10 October 2017

A spiritual journey to

Portugal & Spain Fatima • Lisbon Led by Father Brian Mhlanga OP of Radio Veritas

Avila • Madrid with special visits to Coimbra, the tomb of St Teresa of Avila and the Eucharistic Miracle of Santarém

For info or to book contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or 076 352-3809 or 021 551-3923

www.fowlertours.co.za/fatima

Carmelite Father Davis mekkattukkalam preaches in the church of incarnation convent in avila. a statue of our Lady of Fatima with ss Francisco and Jacinta stands before the altar. successfully assimilated into Christian society. Her mother, a very pious Christian, died when Teresa was only four, an event that brought the child close to the Blessed Virgin. As a young woman Teresa experienced religious ecstasies which she said brought her into perfect union with God. Later she reported distressing visions of Jesus in bodily form. Teresa was also concerned about laxness among her fellow Carmelite Sisters, who she thought were becoming too worldly. It was the time of the Reformation being in full swing—Martin Luther had started it just two years after Teresa’s birth. So Teresa was very much part of the Counterreformation, and her role in it was to transform the Carmelite order. She implemented a strict regime geared towards contemplation and prayer, with the nuns living in poverty and seclusion from the world. In all that she worked very closely with St John of the Cross, the great mystic author. The Carmelite faction they led were called the Discalced (barefoot) Carmelites, the others the Calced Carmelites. The two Carmelite factions split formally only after the deaths of Teresa and John. After initial opposition, Teresa’s way earned the favour of bishops and secular leaders. But the Calced Carmelites weren’t pleased, and in 1576 even managed to exile Teresa, who obeyed. After three years Teresa was released from exile, at the intervention of King Felipe II. Then Pope Gregory XIII (after whom the Gregorian calendar is named) also gave her his support, which enabled Teresa to establish more convents. Altogether she founded 17 convents throughout Spain. Our visit to St Teresa had a connection to the focal point of our pilgrimage, which was the centenary of the apparitions at Fatima: some 20 years after the apparitions, the oldest of the three visionaries, Bl Lucia dos Santos, joined the

Carmelite order in St Teresa convent in Coimbra, which we visited before coming to Spain. Like Sr Lucia, the Carmelite nuns we know in South Africa are the Discalced Carmelites.

Carmelites, first-hand For our group the visit to the places of St Teresa and St John of the Cross had a special significance: among us was a Carmelite priest, Fr Davis Mekkattukkalam of Port Elizabeth. For the two Masses in Alba de Tormes and Avila, spiritual director Archbishop Stephen Brislin invited Fr Davis to preach on Carmelite spirituality and his own path to the priesthood in the order. His vocation story is a journey of unexpected turns which some may call coincidence but which we Christians would ascribe to God’s plan. It was indeed special to have a Carmelite priest leading the celebration of the Eucharist in such important places in the life of his order: the convent church in Alba, beneath the tomb of St Teresa, and in the church of Incarnation convent, where St Teresa lived and later served as superior. From Lisbon to Madrid, our group experienced a very special pilgrimage. And here the accent must also be on the word “group”. On a pilgrimage, the people coming together from different places and backgrounds form a community of believers. And this community bonded quickly and particularly well. From an organisational point of view, this group was more punctual than any I have travelled with—to the point that our guide in Madrid stood slack-jawed when the whole group was gathered at the meeting spot more than ten minutes before the appointed time. Unlike St Teresa, our group allowed for no confusion about time. n This concludes the series. The Southern Cross in association with Radio Veritas will repeat this pilgrimage in October, to be led by Fr Brian Mhlanga OP. For details see www.fowlertours.co.za/fatima

The southern Cross, July 12 to July 18, 2017

CLASSIFIEDS

Cardinal Joachim Meisner By CaRoL GLaTZ

ERMAN Cardinal Joachim Meisner, retired archbishop of Cologne, has died at 83. Cardinal Meisner was one of four cardinals who formally asked Pope Francis to clarify his teaching on Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried. Born on Christmas Day in 1933, the cardinal’s birthplace was Wroclaw; now part of Poland, it was at that time called Breslau and part of Germany. Ordained a priest in 1962, he worked in Heiligenstadt, East Germany, and later became regional director of Caritas, the interna-

tional Catholic aid and development agency. He was named auxiliary bishop of Erfurt-Meiningen, East Germany, in 1975. Cardinal Meisner was bishop

of Berlin between 1980 and 1988, and Pope John Paul II named him a cardinal in 1983. Residing in East Berlin, he was one of few people authorised to cross frequently into West Berlin to carry out his ministry, and was known as “the bishop who passed through the wall”. He served as archbishop of Cologne for 25 years, from his installation in 1989 to his retirement in 2014. Cardinal Meisner’s death leaves the College of Cardinals with 224 members, 121 of whom are younger than 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.–—CNS

How drama opens space for dialogue Continued from page 7 developed at the Denis Hurley Centre by the Big Brotherhood Theatre Company. It was performed to an audience of Grade 11 learners from Holy Family School Durban, and a hundred priests and deacons (plus a bishop, a cardinal and a papal nuncio!). Watching the play together with adults opened up a space in which the young people could talk frankly about the reality of drugs and temptation, and it allowed the clerics the space to listen before they started to speak. I wonder why this approach seems so unusual to us. After all, its roots are in the gospels. Jesus knew about the hard topics of his day—political oppression, self-righteous leaders, poverty, stigmatisation. His ap-

proach was certainly not one of denial. And while he did spend some time “dictating” through preaching, he also spent a lot of time in dialogue with those who were most troubled, giving them space to tell their own stories. Furthermore, parables were his form of drama, helping people to see their own stories and receive lessons that were hard to hear. It would be a wonderful contribution to South African society—a true example of community serving humanity— if our Catholic schools developed a reputation for being places which were unafraid to deal with hard topics and trusted their learners enough to give them their voices.

The Church has a tradition of being a voice for the voiceless. Sometimes that might mean speaking on behalf of someone. But it can also mean making sure that voices that need to be heard are given a platform; drama can provide that. As one of the young men explained when I asked whether his parents were happy about the play portraying such a cruel father. “Oh they’re used to it,” he replied. “They expect us to tell the truth.” Sisazabalaza will be performed at St Benedict’s on July 28. And the group still needs to raise R32 000 of the R72 000 it cost them to take the play to Grahamstown. n For more information or to assist, contact Karen McAnda at mcandak@stbenedicts.co.za

Your prayer to cut out and collect

PRAYING FOR GRANDCHILDREN Bring to mind each of your grandchildren and their special qualities and needs.

HEAVENLY FATHER, I worship you, and give you praise for the great gift of life you have given to me. With gratitude, wonder and awe I acknowledge that it is through my life that you granted life to my children; They are mine, ours and yours. They in turn have become the parents of my grandchildren, and some of us are already blessed with greatgrandchildren in your wonderful chain of life. It is for all these young ones that I thank you and I pray for them today. Some of them are strong in faith, others strong in body, some are beautiful in looks, others beautiful in spirit. Some are ugly or disfigured, some destroy their own beauty. The world in which they live is different from the world in which we lived. Sometimes we do not understand their world and their ways, and we need your gift of forgiveness so that we can be at peace. You have given them to us to love and to hold in prayer, so I earnestly pray today that through my intercession no evil will befall them and that the hopes and dreams we have built up over the years will be theirs too. May your kingdom come, in their lives and in ours. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 767. ACROSS: 1 Repose, 4 Trojan, 9 Green chasuble, 10 Loiters, 11 Local, 12 Purge, 14 Terms, 18 Named, 19 Compose, 21 Authenticated, 22 Polish, 23 Shared. DOWN: 1 Regale, 2 Precious metal, 3 Singe, 5 Resolve, 6 Job’s comforter, 7 Needle, 8 Chess, 13 Goddess, 15 Encamp, 16 Scots, 17 Heeded, 20 Micah.

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: July 17: Bishop Francisco de Gouveia of Oudtshoorn on the 7th anniversary of his episcopal ordination July 19: Bishop Michael Wüstenberg of Aliwal North on his 63rd birthday

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IN MEMORIAM

ALEXANDER—Ralph. in loving memory of my beloved husband Ralph, our father and grandfather who passed away on July 12, 2011. may his soul rest in peace. always fondly remembered by your wife Evelyn, children Blaise, imelda, mark, Celesta, Delia and Rowen, daughters-inlaw sandra and mary-ann, son-in-law martin, and grandchildren Blayke, Reece, Xavier and Cleeve.

PRAYERS

THANkS be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me, For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. o most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, may i know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, For ever and ever. LORD GOD, this candle that i light here today reminds me of the light that you enkindled in me at my

Baptism. Renew the flame of your Love in me. Let it burn away all my egotism, my jealousy, my pride and my failure to love. Let me have a warm and generous heart. Lord, i am not able to remain here in this church very much longer: i have to go. so, please accept this candle in my place. Let it be like a part of me that i give to you. Here, before the image of Blessed mary, mother of God, and imploring her powerful intercession, i ask you, as i offer you this humble candle, to allow my prayer to penetrate every activity and every facet of my life, so that everything will be shaped and formed by the burning flame of your Love. i ask this for Jesus’ sake. amen.

our lives, and in the power of the Holy spirit, bring us into the joy and peace of the kingdom, where Jesus is Lord forever and ever. amen.

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PERSONAL

O VIRGIN mother, in the depths of your heart you pondered the life of the son you brought into the world. Give us your vision of Jesus and ask the Father to open our hearts, that we may always see His presence in

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday July 16, 15th Sunday of the Year Isaiah 55:10-11, Psalms 65:10-14, Romans 8:1823, Matthew 13:1-23 Monday July 17 Exodus 1:8-14, 22, Psalms 124, Matthew 10:34-11:1 Tuesday July 18 Exodus 2:1-15, Psalms 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34, Matthew 11:20-24 Wednesday July 19 Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12, Psalms 103:1-4, 6-7, Matthew 11:25-27 Thursday July 20, St Apollinaris Exodus 3:13-20, Psalms 105:1, 5, 8-9, 24-27, Matthew 11:28-30 Friday July 21, St Lawrence of Brindisi Exodus 11:10-12, 14, Psalms 116:12-13, 15-18, Matthew 12:1-8 Saturday July 22, St Mary Magdalene Song of Solomon 3:1-4 or 2 Corinthians 5:14-17, Psalms 63:2-6, 8-9, John 20:1-2, 11-18 Sunday July 23, 16th Sunday of the Year st mary magdalene Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Psalms 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43

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16th Sunday: July 23 Readings: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43

S outher n C ross

HAT is God like? We do not have any language for describing God’s reality, so we end up pointing rather helplessly to the divine mystery; and the JudaeoChristian tradition, of course, tends to do it by telling stories that just hint at the reality. In the first reading for next Sunday, written by a highly intelligent and educated Jew, probably in Alexandria just a century or so before the birth of Christ, the author is trying to point to some of the salient features of our understanding of God: “There is no God like you,” he starts, promisingly enough, “who cares for all.” Not only that, but “You did not judge unjustly”; and unlike most potentates in that part of the world, “Your strength is the beginning of justice, and the fact that you are master of all makes you act with lenience.” This idea of “strength” appears three times altogether: “You show strength when people do not believe in the perfection of your power”, and “You are the master of strength, and judge with clemency, and you govern us with much leniency.” He ends this prayer: “You taught your peo-

ple through deeds of this sort, that the just person must be a lover of humanity, and you gave your children hope that you grant repentance for sins.” This is not the kind of god that the ancient Mediterranean world would have expected; and we shall do well, this coming week, to reflect upon this extraordinary picture. Our psalm for next Sunday offers the same extraordinary understanding of God: “For you are good and forgiving, rich in steadfast love for all who call upon you”, and shows immense confidence in the attentiveness of our God, feeling free to give God orders: “Turn your ears, Lord, to my prayer, pay attention to the sound of my plea for mercy.” Then it draws an attractive picture of something we are still waiting for: “All the peoples whom you have made shall come and worship in your presence, Lord … for you are great and did wonders.” And, as so often in our Old Testament, above all the sense of God’s gentleness: “You, Lord, are a God of mercy and graciousness, slow to anger and [once more] rich in steadfast love and integrity.” It is a most attractive

picture, this. St Paul is doing something similar in the second reading for next Sunday, speaking of the Spirit, which he sees as in intimate relationship with us, as one who “comes to the help of our weakness—for we have no idea how to pray as we ought”. Then, in a phrase that captures both God’s impossible distance from us, and God’s unfailing desire to help us out, he goes on, “Instead, the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings.” And, in allusive rather than clear language, Paul speaks of “The One who searches hearts knows what is the Spirit’s thought.” We listen, only half-understanding, but we know that something very important is being said here. In the Gospel for next Sunday, we continue Matthew’s “parable chapter”, and are invited to reflect on the nature of God by way of three parables, a “fulfilment-saying” and an explanation. The three parables are those of the wheat and the tares, the grain of mustard, and the leaven used by the baker woman. What kind of God do these three stories reveal to us?

What bad desires may mean S

explicit in our awareness and what’s implicit within it. The explicit refers to what we are aware of consciously (“I want this particular thing!”); whereas the implicit refers to the unconscious factors that are also in play but of which we are unaware. These we only sense, vaguely, in some unconscious part of our soul. For instance, the theologian Fr Karl Rahner—who was fond of this distinction and who puts it to good use in his spirituality— offers us this (crass though clear) example of the distinction between the explicit and the implicit within our motivation and desires.

magine this, he says: A man, lonely, restless and depressed on a Saturday night, goes to a singles’ bar, picks up a prostitute and goes to bed with her. On the surface his motivation and desire are as undisguised as they are crass. He’s not longing for God in his bed on this particular night. Or is he? On the surface, of course he’s not. His desire seems purely self-centred and the antithesis of holy longing. But, parsed out to its deepest root, his desire is ultimately a longing for divine intimacy, for the bread of life, for heaven. He’s longing for God at the very depth of his soul and at the very depth of his motivation—except he isn’t aware of this. Raw desire for immediate gratification is all that he’s consciously aware of at this time, but

Conrad

OMETIMES while praying the psalms, I’m caught looking quite uncomfortably into a mirror, reflecting back to me my own seeming dishonesty. For example, we pray these words in the psalms: “My soul longs for you in the night … Like a deer that yearns for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you my God … For you alone do I long! For you alone do I thirst!” If I’m honest, I have to admit that a lot of times, perhaps most times, my soul longs for a lot of things that do not seem of God. How often can I honestly pray: “For you, God, alone do I long. For you alone do I thirst!” In my restlessness, my earthy desires, and natural instincts, I long for many things that don’t appear very Godfocused or heavenly at all. I suspect that’s true for most of us for good parts of our lives. Rare is the mystic who can say those prayers and mean them with her full heart on any given day. But human desire is a complex thing. There’s a surface and there’s a depth, and in every one of our longings and motivations we can ask ourselves this: What am I really looking for here? I know what I want on the surface, here and now, but what am I ultimately longing for in this? This discrepancy, between what we’re aware of on the surface and what’s sensed only in some dark, inchoate way at a deeper level, is what’s captured in a distinction philosophers make between what’s

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Reflect on mystery of God

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sunday Reflections

First, this is a God that can look benevolently on the mess that we have made, by sowing our weeds among God’s good crops. God will eventually make it all right. Secondly, God’s powerful work has unexpectedly spectacular results: “It becomes bigger than all the vegetables: a tree, so that the birds of the air came and pitched their tents in its branches.” And, thirdly, God works quietly, undetectably at times, but powerfully, “until the whole lot is leavened”. Then the evangelist indicates that this fulfils a Scripture text: “I shall open my mouth in parables.” This is so that we can know that God is visible in the story of Jesus. Finally, he offers an explanation (for dumb disciples like ourselves) of the parable of the wheat and the tares. And this turns out to be yet another picture: “The just shall shine out like the sun, in the Kingdom of their Father.” There is much to help us journey, this week, into the mystery of God.

Southern Crossword #767

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

this doesn’t change his ultimate motivation, of which this is a symptom. At a deeper level, of which he is not consciously aware, he’s still longing for the bread of life, for God alone. His soul is still that of a deer, longing for clear flowing streams, except that on this given night another stream is promising him a more immediate tonic that he can have right now. Recently I taught a course on the spirituality of ageing and dying. Stealing a line from Goethe’s poem “Holy Longing”, I entitled the course poetically: “Insane for the Light”. In a term paper, one of the students, a woman, reflecting on her own journey towards ageing and dying, wrote these words: “And then last night I began to think that dying is making love with God, the consummation after a lifetime of flirtations, encounters, meetings in the dark, and constant yearning, longing, and sense of loneliness that does make one insane for the light. “I reflected on the Song of Songs and thought that it could be an analogy of how I see dying, not necessarily as the body’s disintegration and demise, but rather as the entire transition that I was born destined to make. “I think of my life as a love story with its ups and downs like any love story, but always going in the direction of God with the finality of death being the wedding of the love between God and myself after a betrothal.” She puts it as well as Fr Rahner and the philosophers, though her words are more direct. She too, in analysing her desire, points out there are levels, explicit and implicit, conscious and unconscious. Yes, our lives, with all their tensions, restlessness, youthful immaturities, adult depressions, cold and lonely seasons, times of doubt, times of desperation, breakdowns, and occasional irresponsible exuberance, will surely be marked by flirtations and encounters that seem to exhibit desires that are not for the bread of life. But, they are, ultimately, and one day they will find and know their full consummation.

ACROSS

1. State of the holy souls (6) 4. Kind of horse concealing Greeks (6) 9. The celebrant wears it during Ordinary Time (5,8) 10. Oil rest that hangs around (7) 11. Neighbourhood pub for the Ordinary (5) 12. Cleanse from sin (5) 14. Times to be at school (5) 18. Nominally christened (5) 19. Create new music (7) 21. Hint at educate and proved to have veracity (13) 22. Could be French but is from Warsaw (6) 23. Portioned out (6) Solutions on page 11

DOWN

1. Entertain right eagle (6) 2. Gift of the Magi (8,5) 3. Superficial burn by altar candle (5) 5. Decide to find the answer again (7) 6. He distresses the prophet with consolation (4,9) 7. Obelisk for Cleopatra (6) 8. Game on board (5) 13. She lives on Mount Olympus (7) 15. Put the tents in position (6) 16. They sport St Andrew’s Cross (5) 17. Paid attention (6) 20. The prophet after Jonah (5)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

SMALL parish suddenly stopped buying office supplies from it’s regular supplier. So the dealer called the priest to ask him why. “I’ll tell you why,” shouted the priest. “Our church ordered some pencils from you that we used in the pews for the new visitors to fill out their registration forms.” “Well,” the dealer interrupted, “did you receive them on time?” “Oh, we received them all right,” answered the priest. “You sent us six bundles of little pencils, and each one was stamped with the words ‘Play Golf Next Sunday’.”

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